A lot to be thankful for

So much to tell…

Thanksgiving weekend was great. I headed to Kiev on Wednesday and helped Emily bake a couple of pies and then got a call from Magdych inviting me to come to a mini leadership conference led by Page from Chick Fil A corporate. I was glad to hear someone preaching the benefits of Christian business principles to a room full of up and coming Ukrainian leaders including the president of a PR company in Kiev. And Page wasn’t just preaching it, he was showing how it had been put into practice and is reaping rewards for Chick Fil A. That was exciting.

Thursday was a Thanksgiving Fiesta as we had all sorts of Mexican food—tacos, enchiladas, refried beans, Spanish rice, salsa and Mexican lasagna—yum! Not to mention all the great people who showed up to share in the food and fun. I think there were about 14 of us in shifts throughout the day.

Friday I got to spend time in a quiet coffee shop talking with friends about the vision God is growing in me for ministry in Poltava. It was good to hear their perspectives, ideas, contact thoughts and just shared hearts for the people of Ukraine.

Saturday, I was going to meet Katia’s sister to pick up some things for her. (She is in Poltava interpreting for the Hall family who is here adopting). At a crosswalk, someone in a car starts shouting my name. Turns out the Magdychs were headed to hang a banner and invited me to join them. When we got to Bucha, I asked what was going on that we needed to hang the banner for. Magdych told me that Sergey Zychinko’s church and Almaz were having a youth conference. I laughed and said, Andrey totally invited me to come to this conference! It was GREAT to see Sverchkov and talk to him while Radooga passed out flyers and such for camps and conferences.

Sunday, I went to KIBC and got to see Bob and JoAnn for one last time before they head to the states. So many unexpected surprises this weekend! Then Emily and I headed to the Magdychs for Thanksgiving number two. It was so much fun to hang out with Oleg and Oksana, Oksana’s mom and sister and, of course, Yan and Ilya. Come to find out, Vika, Oksana’s sister used to go to KIBC. Small world. I spent the night with the Magdych’s and Oksana and I giggled and chatted like teenage girls at a slumber party.

Did I mention I had fun this weekend?

But, as always, it is great to be home.

Yesterday, I visited the orphanage with the Halls and then got to spend time with their family and Katia and David. Katia and I had a blast playing charades (crokidil in Russian) with the kids. The highlight of the game being when Vanya was acting out “dwarf.” He got so frustrated that no one was guessing it he started yelling things in Russian, but being that it was Hallie and Kristina trying to guess it wasn’t helping them. Katia and I were both rolling on the floor laughing so hard we were crying. It was great.

Pray that all continues to go smoothly for the Hall family as they move forward in the adoption process. God is building families in a way only he could and it is such a joy for me to see him do it!